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Monday, February 20, 2012

Review: iDrakula by Bekka Black

The classic vampire story that started it all gets new life for a generation of connected teens

18-year-old Jonathan Harker is diagnosed with a rare blood disorder after visiting a Romanian Count. His girlfriend Mina and a pre-med student named Van Helsing team up to investigate the source of the disease. The teenagers discover a horrifying truth: the Count is a vampire. The harrowing events unfold through emails, text messages, web pages, Twitter feeds, and instant messaging-the natural modernization of Bram Stoker's original Dracula, which was written in letters, diary entries, and news clippings.

My Review:

With technology becoming a more predominant feature in today’s society, we have now reached the point where people are writing cell phone novels. Some might think it is a novelty that will fade, but it has been a growing trend through Eastern Countries. This type of novel has been increasing in popularity since the first recognized cell phone novel in 2003.

Bekka Black, writer of the Hannah Vogel Mystery Series, has filled the niche that was missing for this type of book in the Vampire genre. Her novel iDrakula, a retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is an interesting and modernized take on a classic.

The story begins with a text message from Jonathan Harker, a high school graduate, to his girlfriend, Mina Murray. It is simple, but automatically leaves you wanting to know more. “Reinfield had a psychotic break. Carted off to Bellevue. More l8r.” Her reply is, “Wth? Details?”.

Now, if you aren’t a text savvy reader, this might be difficult to understand. The book is aimed at a teen audience who use bad grammar and spelling shortcuts whenever possible; however, I feel if this is the way to get kids –and even adults – to read the classics, it is worth every painful moment.

Because each page is written as an iPhone text, email or article pulled up on an iPad, there is a very limited amount of words. It is typical of cell phone novels because there is a 140 word limit through most carriers. There is no time for relationship definition or character development. It is the story of Dracula in the rawest, most basic form imaginable.

The story progresses quickly as Jonathan takes over Reinfield’s intern position and moves to Romania. Soon after Jonathan arrives, weird things begin happening like mysterious hickeys and lethargy. Suddenly, he goes what I like to call “off the grid”, meaning no one can reach him with any of the technology the book is written through. Eventually he gets to write messages, but they are different. The young man who left has changed in a way similar to their friend Reinfield. He is emotional, scared – almost possessed – and dying to get away from the mysterious Count who is in control of his every move. Tragically for him, the readers are the only ones who get to see that side of him.

After days of no contact with the outside world, Jonathan shows up at a nunnery and gets a message home that he is ill. His father and Mina immediately fly to Romania in order to rescue/ take care of him. Regrettably, if I were to go any further it would give the entire book away. This novel is extremely short with only 150 pages, but if you need a quick read that will take about an hour or so, it is perfect.

I will admit that some things in the theme of the book are overly hokey. They fly using Tepes Travel, one of the websites Mina goes to is called Bathory Catering…it is a bit childish. Despite that flaw, it is full of suspense. I found myself flipping through the pages reading some of them like I would my own email, looking for important things that might stick out so I could move on more quickly. I have to give iDrakula by Bekka Black three kisses. While it might not be for everyone, it is a quick read and when you are finished, it is kid friendly enough to give to a teenager in your house to read next.

Pros

1. Suspense

2. Dracula is a vampire in every classic sense of the word. There are no deviations to make him something he is not.

3. The characters are easy to like. It is not hard to grow an attachment to them after reading the texts and emails as if you are one of their friends.

Cons

1. It can be over-dramatic at times.

2. The text talk can become annoying if you aren’t used to it.

3. There is a lot of filling in the blanks. With very minimal description, the whole book is plot based, so if you can’t get enough stimulation to visualize the story through the limited email attachments, it can fall flat.

What Julie Has Read:

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